Hi all, newbie here. I posted on about Oct.5 for mid-Dec over Christmas sit. I got 2 replies, confirmed one, then she cancelled quite soon after. (The other is now busy.) Since then, not one reply. I’ve had about 8 sits in the past with no problem getting replies. What’s up? Please see my listing in my forum profile. Thank you for your tips.
Sarah
Your listing looks great and your sitter reviews are strong.
Some of us aren’t applying for traveling sits due to the high cost of air travel and car rental. They have nearly doubled.
Best of luck.
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Another reason for low application could be most sitters are already booked for Christmas sits. I’m a sitter and booked my Christmas / NYE sits back in August. I hope you find an awesome sitter so you can enjoy your holiday.
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Hi @Sarah24, your listing looks perfectly okay. The possible issue is that you are competing with 158 other Seattle owners looking for sitters over the Christmas period! There are just so many Christmas listings worldwide and not enough sitters wanting to sit over the festive season or they have been booked months in advance.
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@Sarah24 It’s always a good idea to search your own listing. It’s important to check how your first photo displays (as portrait layout will automatically be cropped by the system). You can also then assess your competition. In doing a search of ‘City of Seattle’, this is what I was able to find:
- 352 - the # of listings without applying any filters
- 159 - when I filtered for Christmas Sits & Distance (to limit those not really in Seattle)
- 41 - when I added a filter for cats only
I could not filter by your specific dates as I am already booked for those dates.
Somebody please check what I’ve done, in case I missed seeing the listing. Now to find out why it’s not displaying (if I’m correct).
I would suggest you take down the listing (if it is active) and repost it. That should relist it as a new listing. I suggest you also re-take some of the interior photos, providing better lighting and clearing off some of the surfaces. You are up against lots of competition so you will need to go the extra mile. 
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@Snowbird yes the listing is there and all seems normal, no applicants.
The listing itself is very detailed and well written and past reviews are very good. The only thing I see is the lighting inside is quite poor for the photos and a little bit of clutter could be tidied up for the sake of attracting sitters. It’s “home” so you are entitled to have things around but for the sake of attracting sitters, may I suggest a little tidy up of things on benchtops and the table?
If I were in the US I would apply for sure as it seems a great location. I think it is purely the dates that are the problem and may I suggest advertising sooner in future for dates that are harder to find sitters for.
Best of luck 
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There are fewer sitters during the holidays. Plus, those of us who are sitting can choose from many festive cities if we’re flexible. Like I bought a ticket late for Scotland and it was reasonable. I’d rather see Edinburgh and Glasgow dressed for the holidays than any city at home in the U.S.
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It’s now displaying as the third listing for me so perhaps the owner was in the process of re-listing it? Surely I didn’t miss one that’s now so obvious? 
Your wording for the tidy up suggestion is far nicer than mine. Great explanation. 
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I booked my post christmas sit back in June, yet I’m fairly sure as other’s mention it’s the dates. I hope you fund someone. And airfares are extremely high over the holiday’s so it’s likely people are holding back.
Maggie, Edinburgh Christmas market is fantastic. Enjoy!
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Thanks for your tips and good wishes! And I’ll look at photos again. How do you re-post? I have ‘paused’ a couple times. When I ‘unpause,’ does my listing come up at the top, so to speak? And thanks to the moderator for putting my listing in my forum profile.
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I’m cat sitting in Glasgow now 
and will be in London cat sitting during Christmas and NYE. I’m looking forward to partaking in the holiday festivities. Enjoy Scotland 
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Hi Sarah, if you delete your dates, redo your photos and then relist your dates your listing will come back as a new listing and pop up at the top when sitters sort their searches by ‘newest’. Hth.
We’re sitters, our New Year sit was booked about 6 months ago. But the new overbooking sit rule may be the reason (pop it into the search box), as your ad looks great. The new rule means that if a sitter’s availability is just 1 day different to the dates you have posted, the system doesn’t permit them to apply to see if their dates can help in any sort of way.
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Hi @Sarah24
Unfortunately there are simply far too many Xmas sits and not enough available sitters this year. Not sure if THS has been promoting getting a Christmas sitter more this year or the number of available sitters has dropped?
Definitely repost your listing and hopefully you can get a sitter.
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Thank you. I love London at Christmas and NYE. Have a terrific time!
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Thank you again, each one of you, for sharing your experiences. But ugh.
I’m just going to blame it on new restrictive THS rules, more expensive travel costs, and, oh, Covid. I have depended solely on THS for 4-5 years and now, well, it ain’t over yet. During that time I had 2 sitters cancel at the last minute—one due to family crisis, the other was kicked out of THS. But other sitters came through. Crossing my fingers, but also looking elsewhere.
Merry Christmas!
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We were aspirationally looking for Christmas sits a few weeks ago, and a cat sit in Seattle would’ve fit the bill, but the high cost of air fare was the main reason we just stopped looking at other than rural getaways closer to home. Airfare cost is a major factor. Fortunately you could be in Seattle easily without a car. The return of COVID in general may be giving some travelers pause. At this point with no masking, no tests, etc planes, airports, mass transportation, indoor tourist venues are all major vectors for flu and COVID. I don’t know if that’s preventing some sitters from taking sits, but it should give people pause especially if they are immunosupressed or were seriously ill previously.
I don’t think you should give up, as there are people signing up for the site all the time, and trips/sits get cancelled by HOs as well as sitters, but maybe look at sitters who favorited your listing who could potentially drive there? While it’s true that many sitters book months in advance, there are a lot of casual sitters who might be fine with a last minute getaway or a chance to spend the holidays with friends or family in Seattle without imposing.
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I’m still traveling and wearing an N95 on the airplane and in the airport. I’m immunocompromised. But the airfares are so high these days I’m not looking for sits that involve air travel. Also not looking around home as I have an elderly dog myself who would require a sitter.
Don’t know what the situation is in the US, but I don’t think in Europe sitters are being held back by the return of Covid. E.g. it’s like the annual return of flu and the cold, which doesn’t stop people from heading off either
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